Terracotta Dining Collection & Ceramic Vases by FAINA

The brainchild of Ukrainian architect and designer Victoria Yakusha, FAINA offers ceramics, bespoke furniture, organic linens, lighting and décor. Inspired by her cultural roots, Yakusha aims to bring her national identity to the fore of the design world through the brand. Her latest collection, the Terracotta Design Set, is based on the study of domestic traditions, materials and craft techniques, transformed into contemporary minimalist design objects.

“Through the FAINA collection, I wanted to reflect the whole life force of energy that has been encapsulated over the Ukrainian land for centuries,” says Yakusha.

Including a chair, a table, a pendant light and a collection of vases, the Terracotta set traverses a material palette of clay, willow timber, cellulose, ash, and felt. The STRIKHA pendant lamp, meaning ‘straw roof’ in Ukrainian, was handmade by a carpet weaver. The oversized wicker shade resembles the straw roof of a traditional Ukrainian hut, woven around a metal frame.

The TOPTUN chair translates to ‘someone who walks loudly’. The design is indeed bold and almost primitive, with a rounded geometrical shape. The felted chair features a foam rubber and timber frame.

The most obvious visual reference to terracotta in the collection is the ZTISTA table, which in Ukrainian means ‘made of dough’. Yakusha explains her particular inspiration as “the spontaneous and naïve designs of a dinner table shaped by hand with a technique, that our ancestors used to create a hut-hut.” The base resembles a hand-made hunk of clay, complete with irregular perforations, though it is in fact made from steel, flax rubber, biopolymer, and cellulose. The round table top is made of ash timber, its cool tone a contrast to the rust-coloured base.

Finally, the KUMANEC set of 5 vases (‘meaning ‘ceramic figured vessel’) emulates traditional festive pottery with their bagel-like holes in the middle, reinterpreted for a contemporary design taste.